Chopin: Nocturnes; Ballades; Waltzes; Scherzi

Artistic Quality: 7 Sound Quality: 8 As an interpreter Shura Cherkassky could be capricious and even willful to a maddening degree. You never knew what he would do from piece to piece, indeed, from phrase to phrase! He’d play Chopin’s notes, of course, but not necessarily according to Hoyle, as these previously unissued BBC performances reveal. The pianist turns the Fourth Ballade’s carefully structured climaxes upside down and uncovers layers of hidden counterpoints as he alters Chopin’s dynamic indications. Much of the same happens in the Third Ballade. Similarly, Cherkassky reads the Second Scherzo as a lyrical rather than heroic opus, yet takes care to articulate the opening, upward triplet motto that most pianists blur. The E-flat Waltz Op. 18 is overloaded with fussy detail, while the C-sharp minor Waltz is more limp than limpid as Cherkassky slightly overpedals the opening section. I prefer the pianist’s suppler, technically stronger studio recording of the Fourth Scherzo to this live version recorded during his 80th birthday season. The five Nocturnes, however, fascinatingly differ from other Cherkassky versions. The live BBC D-flat Nocturne is brisk and suave in contrast to the measured, brooding Nimbus recording, which is nearly a minute longer. All five showcase Cherkassky’s ravishing, cream-coated legato, achieved with little recourse to the sustain pedal. In sum, a release that complements Decca’s erstwhile live Cherkassky series. I hope BBC Classics unearths repertoire otherwise unrecorded by this pianist for its next Cherkassky outing. Review by: Jed Distler, classicstoday.com